Martellus Bennett's Worth

By Andrew Lecointe

Jim O’Connor — US Presswire

Call me crazy but I believe New York Giants’ TE Martellus Bennett is better than Dallas Cowboys’ TE Jason Witten. How could this be? Bennett couldn’t get more snaps that Witten when he was with the Cowboys. I believe Bennett gives the Giants, or any team he might play with in the future, a play-making ability Witten doesn’t possess.

Witten has put up Hall of Fame numbers with the Cowboys mainly because of his relationship with QB Tony Romo. Witten is a sure-handed receiver, but he isn’t able to make plays athletic tight ends like TE Tony Gonzalez of the Atlanta Falcons and TE Antonio Gates of the San Diego Chargers have made over the course of their careers.

Bennett has the ability to make those kind of plays. Bennett most definitely has to get better, but he has the height and athletic ability to become a nice threat in the red zone, in addition to spacing the field and giving the quarterback a nice option. Witten was always Romo’s bail-out option.

Romo has excellent chemistry with Witten, so he knows where he’ll be all the time. When Romo scanned the field and didn’t like what he saw, he always went to Witten. Most of those catches were really only five to 10 yards, and Witten is probably the softest tight end in the NFL. He doesn’t break tackles at all, so the catches Witten makes rarely make a difference in a game.

Witten had 17 catches against the Giants in late October. However, those catches didn’t impact the game at all. Bennett, with a little more improving and more consistency catching the football, can become one of the better tight ends in the game.

So where does this leave Bennett? He’s a free agent, and it’s going to cost the Giants more than $2.5 million to keep him. That’s what the Giants paid him this season, and he had the most productive season at that position since TE Jeremy Shockey in 2007. Bennett also caught a touchdown pass in his first three games, showing he’s legitimate threat.